In North America, Symbian might be as marginal as soccer, but Nokia’s smartphone OS is still the world leader, holding major shares in Europe, Asia, and South America. This week, after Microsoft had shown its hand with Windows Phone 7, Nokia demoed the upcoming Symbian 4.

Based on the Youtube ratings, people do not appear overly thrilled. 4’s user interface seems like a cross between Windows Phone 7 and Android 2.1. Analysts predict that Symbian’s dominance in Europe and Asia will be lessened considerably by the close of this year, as the iPhone and Android smartphones eat into Nokia’s market. Do not forget about RIM and webOS either. By 2011, one or two of these big time players will eventually have to bow out.